“The Omaha Symphony is having a yearlong farewell party for music director Thomas Wilkins, with big-name guests such as cellist Yo-Yo Ma, saxophonist Branford Marsalis and pianist André Watts,” writes Betsie Freeman in Tuesday’s (2/18) Omaha World-Herald. “Wilkins, who has been with the symphony since 2005, announced in 2017 that the 2020-21 season—the orchestra’s centennial—would be his last in Omaha. He is the longest-tenured music director in the organization’s history…. Ma … will be the headliner at the annual gala performance in April 2021…. Marsalis is a personal friend of Wilkins and will join the orchestra in the season opener.… The concert will feature a world premiere by Michael Daugherty, ‘Lift Up Thine Ears,’ and will include works by Joan Tower, John Williams and Aaron Copland…. A January MasterWorks concert … will bring Watts to Omaha to perform Maurice Ravel’s ‘Piano Concerto for the Left Hand’ (which he learned with his right hand).… Special concerts include … the orchestra and area high school choirs performing Carl Orff’s ‘Carmina Burana,’ and a free community concert.… NET Nebraska is producing ‘Behind the Baton,’ a documentary about the workings of a symphony orchestra through the eyes of Wilkins.”
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